Russian special military operation in Ukraine #19

ludovicense wrote:Levi
@Levi_godman
Blinken: US is ready to support any possible diplomatic solutions to the conflict in Ukraine....

Forget it, they are rollin'

Ispan wrote:

Ispan wrote:
Destruction of the pocket of Zolotoye and the advance towards Lysichansk

https://guerraenucrania.wordpress.com/2022/06/24/parte-de-guerra-23-06-2022/

[/quote]

Part of war 06/23/2022
24 June, 2022 Zhukov

YESTERDAY 23 June

https://chervonec-001.livejournal.com/4183841.html

Russian troops occupied Volcheyarovka. Lisichansk is now almost completely blocked

There is still a road through Seversk. It is not physically cut off, but it has been covered by artillery in the Seversk area before. After reaching Volcheyarovka, it was possible to shoot directly across the highway to Lisichansk, which means that the two main supply roads of the Severodonetsk group are no longer safe.



The Ukrainian grouping in the cauldron has a strength of 5 to 7 thousand men.

Ukrainian TV channels report that the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Zaluzhny urgently requested the evacuation of the entire group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Severodonetsk. At the same time, Zelensky ordered Zaluzhny to transfer the Ukrainian army reserves from the Belarusian border to the eastern front. The General Staff was told that it should avoid the encirclement of Lysychansk and that it should organize an advance for the Ukrainian grouping on Zolotoy. That is, they persist in Kiev. The better, the more enemy troops will be crushed in the Donbass mill.

Meanwhile, the Russian Armed Forces are storming the dominant heights in Berestovo, which allows them to control the route from Lisichansk to Bakhmut.

In the Gorskoye – Zolotoye zone, separate detachments of the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to resist. Presumably, there are about a thousand Ukrainians left to cook in the cauldron. It includes units of the 24th and 57th mechanized brigades. All the Ukrainian prisoners of war who were taken in this area say that they were forcibly transferred to the front, no one wanted to take part in the fighting.

Data from the Russian Ministry of Defense on Ukrainian losses:

– In the 34 battalion of the 57 motorized infantry brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which was defeated near Mirnaya Dolina (LPR), more than 150 men were killed and about 450 wounded in 2 days, junior officers abandoned their subordinates and deserted;

– In the units of the 30th mechanized brigade near Klin (DPR), as a result of from the fire of Russian troops, less than 50% of the personnel remain, more than 170 soldiers and officers were evacuated with serious injuries.



Старше Эдды

https://t.me/s/vysokygovorit
Today, we can probably say that the culmination of the battle for Donbass has come. The advance of 90 armored infantry, during which they quickly occupied the locality of Mirnaya Dolina, allowed, on the one hand, to encircle the enemy in the Gorskoye-Zolotoye area, on the other hand, such an advance forces the Ukrainian gangs to choose between the bad and the worst, that is, between captivity or death.

At the same time, the enemy's Lysychansk group is under threat of a complete encirclement, and from the north, the 20th, 36th and 29th armies continue to destroy the Kiev formations with artillery of all guns and calibers. In principle, you can already see with the naked eye how the troops of the "O" group are fighting, I just returned an hour ago from the northern border of the DPR, where artillery works non-stop.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces respond, yesterday they again hit our rear from the Protopopovka area. They attack the raisins, but in general, the steel pincers of the Russian troops are increasingly squeezing the enemy's throat. Once again, I would like to note that the offensive is taking place in an extremely difficult theater for the attacking side. Dense forests, rivers, elevation differences, many settlements and numerous forces of the defending side. Despite all this, we advance, and the enemy bends.



Key results of the special operation in Ukraine for June 23, 2022 (Rybar et al.)

Positional battles continue in the Kharkov region.
As a result of the successful offensive operation, the Russian Armed Forces have gained a foothold in Tsupovka and are fighting on the outskirts of the Northprudyanki.
In the direction of Izyum, the Russian Armed Forces crossed the river and occupied Nortsovka - a springboard has been created for an attack on the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Chepele.

In the Donbas, the allied forces are systematically developing their success.

The units of the Russian Armed Forces occupied the village Volcheyarovka and occupied the western outskirts of Lisichansk. At the same time, Russian forces advancing from the south are engaged in fierce battles with units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which are entrenched on the territory of industrial enterprises
The Allied forces began to clear the "cauldron" formed at Gorsky and Zolotoy - the surrounded units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces surrender en masse.
Multi-day battles for Nikolaevka. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and the People's Militia of the PRL are clearing the village.
Assault groups of the "Wagner private military companies" are engaged in intense battles on Pokrovsky - the units of the 30th Ukrainian Brigade lost more than half of their personnel.
As a result of the Ukrainian attacks in Donetsk, schools, kindergartens and the Church of the Holy Annunciation in the Kuibyshev district were damaged. There are dead and injured.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces are trying to attack the positions of the DPR People's Militia in the Ugledar area.
As a result of many days of fighting, Ukrainian forces occupied Pavlovsk and gained a foothold on the outskirts of the Novomayorsk district.

In the direction of Krivoy Rog, the Armed Forces of Ukraine made an unsuccessful attempt to advance in the Potemkino area.

Missile strikes hit several bases of repair and restoration of military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine rn nNikolaev.

In the Odessa region, cruise missiles hit positions of M-777 howitzers.

The first cauldron with the trapped Ukrainian Nazis is a great achievement. But when there are almost two of them, this marks a military catastrophe for the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Donbas.

The first cauldron is the surrounded group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Gorsky-Zolotoy.

About the second bag in the media began to talk today, the Lisichansk garrison is in siege operatiov.

This was achieved thanks to the capture of Volcheyarovka and the establishment of fire control on the Seversk — Lisichansk highway, which means an operational environment.

In the first cauldron, according to military experts, there are about 1.5-2 thousand Ukrainian militants. In the Lysychansk-Severodonetsk grouping - up to 7 thousand soldiers of the armed forces of Ukraine. The commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Zaluzhny, was afraid of this encirclement and in May demanded permission from Zelensky to withdraw the group.

For Ukraine, such an outcome is really demilitarization, because due to the emphasis on politics and intelligence, Ukraine acts illogically in the military sphere, incurring heavy losses. After the destruction of Ukrainian army groups in the Donbass, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will cease to exist in the usual sense of the word. Yes, there are still reserves of mobilization, there is still teroborone, but this is not the same in quality.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces suffered very heavy losses in the area of the settlement of Mirnaya Dolina: more than 150 militants were killed and about 450 were wounded. In addition to these successes, it is also worth noting the attacks on military infrastructure: 49 fuel tanks, three armored vehicle repair bases, 26 command posts, three mobile drone checkpoints were destroyed, 50 rocket-launching vehicles in hangars were destroyed, and in addition to them, eight more platoons of Uragan heavy rocket launchers were demilitarized.

At the time of writing this article, social networks reported that the "Brave" group captured an important enemy stronghold near the village of Belaya Gora, near Lisichansk.

Ukraine is losing the battle in the Donbass. It is impossible to underestimate the enemy and it is impossible to talk about the exact moment, but for the Ukrainian army, now it is inevitable. Zelensky himself is guilty of the defeat of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Donbass, not allowing them to retreat and somehow rectify the front.

Ukraine will prepare for defense on the Dnieper, this is evidenced by the statement of the commander of the Ukrainian Navy, Vice Admiral Alexey Neizhpapa. Now they are forming a riverboat division on the Dnieper, because "they cannot afford to lose the main logistics artery of Ukraine."This means that the military and political leadership of Ukraine no longer believes in success in the Donbas.

In order to distract the Ukrainian population from the failures in the Donbass, the units of the propaganda of the Armed Forces of Ukraine began to disseminate information about the successful assault on Kherson.





Other reports

Official losses of the Donetsk People's Republic from January 1 to June 24, 2022:

Military:

Dead – 2,196
Wounded - 9246

Civil:

Dead – 677
Wounded - 2186

About artillery and the "industrial war"

https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/return-industrial-warfare

Brief note about the losses of artillery pieces that Ukraine had. Reviewing previous reports, I have found the following estimates prior to this year:

Self-propelled

122-mm 2S1 "Gvozdika" 230 units

152 mm 2S3 "Acacia" – 230 units

203-mm 2S7 "Pion" – 97 units

Towed guns

122-mm D-30 about 130 units.

In total about 600 medium and heavy artillery guns and howitzers. The Russian military claims to have destroyed about 2,000 cannons and mortars, so this puts it in perspective, three quarters of that figure will certainly be 120 and 82mm mortars. At least a hundred pieces, maybe more, are Western supplies and it has also been destroyed or at least bombed. A part of the artillery pieces attacked will have been repaired. Still, assuming that the artillery pieces were only 10% of the total, Ukraine would have lost 300 guns, most of them self-propelled, the destruction of which is easier to verify. I mean, I should have lost half the artillery but it doesn't seem to decrease the intensity of enemy fire much.

I suspect that if the Russians have destroyed so many artillery pieces and the enemy still has cannons left, it is due to the use of old models of towed cannons from Soviet times and other ancients such as the Rapira anti-tank cannons, which were used in 2014-2015 in the absence of anti-tank missiles. There is no way to know how much artillery the Ukrainians have left but quite a lot, alas, from the reports of the front. One possible explanation is Western aid that has partly compensated for the losses, in addition to Moderna Western guns, it is possible that Poland has supplied tens or hundreds of their self-propelled pieces of 122 and 152mm, but I have no record.

About drones and counterbattery

https://topwar.ru/198140-bespilotniki-izmenili-taktiku-podavlenija-zapadnaja-pressa-o-kontrbatarejnoj-rabote-artillerii-vs-rf.html

Improvised artillery of the Ukrainian forces

https://topcor.ru/26415-vsu-perehodjat-na-samodelnye-rszo-stolknuvshis-s-ostroj-nehvatkoj-oruzhija.html

Why don't they give up? About the motivation of Ukrainian soldiers

https://ukraina.ru/opinion/20220623/1034213736.html

It comes to confirm my observations set out in previous reports

Hole wrote:

Bridge between Severodonetsk and Lysichansk. Was done by a helicopter.

Where do you got this information from?

If it was Helicopter than probably used a KH-25 from Ka-52. Certainly not an ATGM and I kind of doubt it would be using anything else.

Reality sinking in:

Paul Craig Roberts latest

Yesterday (June 23, 2022) The Saker (Andrei Raevsky) wrote that it has become undeniable that what began as a Russian limited military operation in Ukraine has turned into an open and full-scale war between Russia and the West.

I was the first person to put into print that the “limited” aspect of Russia’s intervention in Donbass was a delusion. Washington, I said, would never allow it to be limited. For this obviously correct insight, Andrei denounced me as anti-Russian. Dmitry Orlov dismissed me as a crank who wanted nuclear war. In other words, my pointing out a Kremlin miscalculation that would result in a wider war was unwelcome despite its obvious truthfulness.

Well, as Andrei now acknowledges, the wider war I predicted is upon us. The Kremlin’s receptivity to provocations have brought them to the situation where an insignificant country, certainly militarily, but in all respects, has blocked Russia’s provision of part of Russia — Kaliningrad. If the Kremlin, ever tolerant of provocations, accepts this, Russia is finished. If the Kremlin doesn’t accept it, Lithuania is finished.

As Lithuania is a NATO member–stupid decision–NATO will have to go to war or back down. The Jewish neoconservatives who control US foreign policy will not let them back down. Washington pays a lot for obedience and will expect NATO to comply.

The guy is only right in that the West is mad and rabid, in all of the rest he is dead wrong. Russia is wining, while he has been announcing their defeat due to their weak government for ages. He has no clue about the depth of Russian strategic thinking, which is no surprise coming from a Westerner, and makes constant assessment failures on the outcome of their actions. He knows nothing about Russia (or military issues) and only keeps repeating about responding to obvious provocations in senseless ways that only benefit the provokers. He said Moscow miscalculated that the West would never allow this conflict to be limited (!?) How clueless you need to be to think that Russians did not expect the West to double down, as they systematically do? Was it not obvious from the very beginning, seeing how cautious they were deploying forces in ukraine, that they were reserving troops for a potential parallel escalation? They kept and keep the operation as small scale as possible, in order to prevent a runaway escalation. Now he wants to make it appear like the conflict that Russia had calculated and is performing in a quite controlled way (while the hollowed out Western industrial capability is called out and is unable to sustain the war effort in 404) is the WWIII he has been talking about. No Sir, not even close... but if Russians would go berserk and threaten US directly as he always proposes, that war would be almost unavoidable, even for the few sane enough in the administration that would try to prevent it.

ludovicense wrote:Levi
@Levi_godman
Blinken: US is ready to support any possible diplomatic solutions to the conflict in Ukraine


.......................

What I would give to see Lavrov come on TV and say "with all due respect to our American partners - **** off Blinky"

"The Kremlin’s receptivity to provocations have brought them to the situation where an insignificant country, certainly militarily, but in all respects, has blocked Russia’s provision of part of Russia — Kaliningrad. If the Kremlin, ever tolerant of provocations, accepts this, Russia is finished. If the Kremlin doesn’t accept it, Lithuania is finished."

...this guy is dangerously deluded. These neocons and neolibs have only one switch. Thry cannot ever concede or use diplomacy. In their hubris they think they can play power games like a nagging mother with child to a nuclear power! And in their back yard! If we face nuclear decimating it will be the fault of these revenants.

Russia can easily supply Kaliningrad by ship. And he is quite wrong. Russia expected NATO to escalate this way which is why when the war started Putin placed the forces in Kaliningrad into high alert including the strategic weapons. He sent the MiG-31K to Kaliningrad with the Kinzhal in February. Why do you think he did that?

Russia is bleeding the Ukrainian war machine white and if this continues they will bleed the Poles too. Since the Poles keep feeding their equipment and personnel into the East Ukraine meat grinder. NATO already sent around 300 T-72 tanks from former Warsaw Pact stocks to Ukraine. 200 of them being Polish. The demilitarization of NATO continues.

Russia has enough reserve to engage the Baltics if necessary. And if he thinks the US will seriously try to defend them, he is dead wrong. If it happens, it will make people realize NATO accession isn't worth the piece of paper it was signed on. If Russia annexes the Baltics before Finland and Sweden do, they might even recant their entry into NATO.

For Russia to increase its chances of military success on the ground it is in their interest to concentrate their forces and keep grinding the enemy in Ukraine as slowly as possible. The more men and materiel they send to Ukraine close to Russian supply lines, the better.

lancelot wrote:Russia can easily supply Kaliningrad by ship. And he is quite wrong. Russia expected NATO to escalate this way which is why when the war started Putin placed the forces in Kaliningrad into high alert including the strategic weapons. He sent the MiG-31K to Kaliningrad with the Kinzhal in February. Why do you think he did that?

First of all, they have made an LNG terminal there that is about half the size of the only LNG terminal in neighbor Poland, which is only 15+ times bigger.
They have ordered several huge train ferries to operate from Peter.
NPP was under construction and ceased now for a while due to economical changes in the energy market, but they can finish it if needed.
A gas-operated TPPs has opened there a while ago, doubling the production of energy and making the enclave fully self-sufficient, the production almost doubles the use.
Russia was getting ready for trouble times for the whole time of Putin's rule.
There is no need to consider everything from the military perspective only
A blockade of Kaliningrad is impossible without unleashing a war, which won't happen because the Pribalts would last about 2 days.

Look at this WSJ video headline I wont provide a link. Its not worth it. Looks like they set up the snake island strawman, and they will periodically attack it to pretend they knocked it down.

Why Ukraine’s Snake Island Is Key to Russia’s War Strategy | WSJ

The western media is truly unbearable. Its still hard to understand what the point of this brainwashing exercise is.

PapaDragon wrote:

ludovicense wrote:Levi
@Levi_godman
Blinken: US is ready to support any possible diplomatic solutions to the conflict in Ukraine....

Forget it, they are rollin'

They should have thought about it back in 2013. The last opportunity was thrown away by them in December 2021, when Russia offered them to resolve the issue using diplomatic methods. Now the window of opportunity is closed. If the United States forced Putin to take a military path to resolve the conflict, they will pay every last cent for it.

Werewolf wrote:

Hole wrote:

Bridge between Severodonetsk and Lysichansk. Was done by a helicopter.

Where do you got this information from?

If it was Helicopter than probably used a KH-25 from Ka-52. Certainly not an ATGM and I kind of doubt it would be using anything else.

Moon of Alabama. Pretty reliable site.

Backman wrote:Look at this WSJ video headline I wont provide a link. Its not worth it. Looks like they set up the snake island strawman, and they will periodically attack it to pretend they knocked it down.

Why Ukraine’s Snake Island Is Key to Russia’s War Strategy | WSJ

The western media is truly unbearable. Its still hard to understand what the point of this brainwashing exercise is.

The money they get.

Russian Defence Ministry report on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine ( June 25, 2022)

The enemy continues suffering considerable losses.

High-precision attacks launched by Russian Aerospace Forces at Megateks zinc plant facilities in Konstantinovka (Donetsk People's Republic) has resulted in the elimination of up to 80 Polish mercenaries, 20 armoured combat vehicles and 8 Grad multiple rocket-launching systems (MRLS).

Over 300 Ukrainian servicemen and foreign mercenaries, as well as 35 units of equipment have been eliminated near Nikolayev.

Refusals to fulfil assigned tasks continue to occur in Ukrainian army and territorial defence units.

Personnel of 64th Battalion from 103rd Territorial Defence Brigade located in Lvov has refused to redeploy to operations area in Donbass due to being manned by untrained reservists and lack of heavy armament.

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation in Ukraine.

Operational-tactical and army aviation, missile troops and artillery have neutralised manpower and military equipment in 284 areas, 2 munitions, missiles and artillery armament depots near Volcheyarovka (Lugansk People's Republic), as well as artillery and mortar units in 43 areas.

Within counter-battery warfare towards Donetsk, high-precision attacks launched by Russian Aerospace Forces have neutralised: 8 Uragan MRLS artillery plattoons near Kurakhovo, Ukrainsk, Novosyolovka Vtoraya, Vozdvizhenka and 2 artillery plattoons near Ukrainsk and Yasnobrodovka that had been shelling Donetsk and other settlements of the Donetsk People's Republic.

Attacks launched by aviation, missile troops and artillery have resulted in the elimination of over 780 nationalists, 8 tanks and other armoured combat vehicles, 3 Uragan MRLS combat vehicles, 
10 field artillery cannons and mortars, 13 special vehicles.

Russian air defence means have destroyed 21 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles near Popasnaya, Kapitanovo (Lugansk People's Republic), Andreyevka, Barvenkovo, Bolshiye Prokhody, Velikaya Kamyshevakha, Verbovka, Donetskoye, Dolgenkoye, Izyum, Maliye Prokhody, Malaya Kamyshevakha, Olkhovatka, Chervoniy Shakhtyor (Kharkov region), Pyatikhatka (Dnepropetrovsk region), Bobroviy Kut, Malaya Seideminukha, Molodyozhnoye (Kherson region) and near Snake Island.

1 Tochka-U ballistic missile has been intercepted near Molodyozhnoye (Kherson region) and 16 MRLS projectiles near Brazhkovka, Glinskoye, Dolgenkoye (Kharkov region), Avdeyevka (Donetsk People's Republic) and near Snake Island.

In total, 213 airplanes and 132 helicopters, 1,355 unmanned aerial vehicles, 350 anti-aircraft missile systems, 3,797 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 670 combat vehicles equipped with multiple rocket-launching systems, 3,012 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 3,848 units of special military equipment have been destroyed during the special military operation.

#MoD #Russia #Ukraine
@mod_russia_en

https://t.me/mod_russia_en/2417

https://t.me/istorijaoruzijaZ/11055
Wehrmacht convoy getting denazified in Gorskoye

Local observers in Donetsk City and elsewhere which is subjected to regular Kiev regime terror shelling note an interesting detail.
When the skies are clear or relatively clear the shelling is more active and focused.   When the skies are overcast it goes down a
notch.  The activity is also associated with the position of the Sun. Clearly, the Kiev regime terrorists are using US spy satellite
resources to guide their shelling.   All the bitching and moaning in this thread about UAVs is so much BS.

kvs wrote:Local observers in Donetsk City and elsewhere which is subjected to regular Kiev regime terror shelling note an interesting detail.
When the skies are clear or relatively clear the shelling is more active and focused.   When the skies are overcast it goes down a
notch.  The activity is also associated with the position of the Sun.  Clearly, the Kiev regime terrorists are using US spy satellite
resources to guide their shelling.   All the bitching and moaning in this thread about UAVs is so much BS.

More simply, satellites and drones are not required for artillery terror attacks on urban centers, it's not like they're going anywhere. However, good weather and day time correlates directly with more people out on the streets, and hence more casualties.

TMA1 wrote " "The Kremlin’s receptivity to provocations have brought them to the situation where an insignificant country, certainly militarily, but in all respects, has blocked Russia’s provision of part of Russia — Kaliningrad. If the Kremlin, ever tolerant of provocations, accepts this, Russia is finished. If the Kremlin doesn’t accept it, Lithuania is finished."..this guy is dangerously deluded. These neocons and neolibs have only one switch. Thry cannot ever concede or use diplomacy. In their hubris they think they can play power games like a nagging mother with child to a nuclear power! And in their back yard! If we face nuclear decimating it will be the fault of these revenants.


Agree that " accepting " this provocations may not be sustainable for Russia . Most likely unsustainable in the long run . So far , they have done most things possible , including on a small scale , directing fire against Russians , without perhaps pulling the trigger . This they know , will result in a nuclear war . The Russians have avoided causing casualties among them as well , either directly or indirectly .

Russia can supply Kaliningrad by sea from St. Petersburg , in the summer months . And it can export it's main goods of oil and gas , Gold and Silver , fertilisers etc , also in the summer months . Since these goods are non-perishable and do not need refrigeration , they can be stored for shipping in May . But need twice the number of ships to allow , short season of exports . And need contracts allowing summer shipping on high volume . What is the situation with ice , on Russia far East region ?

Still China and Iran provide reliable port facility and transit , and Black Sea also will be available , once Harpoons removed from Odessa . So it is not the end of the world for Russia yet . But Lithuania ? Life can turn out very difficult for them . For reasons I stated . And if they attack Russia ? Well Article 5 , does not protect them . At least not legally ! So , it is the end of Lithuania !

Friends! The industrial zone of Severodonetsk and the airport are completely liberated!
I thank my dear Brother, assistant to the Head of the CR Apty Alaudinov and commander of the second corps of the People's militia of the LPR "Adler".
800 civilians were released from the territory of the Azot plant. The airport is being cleaned of the remnants of the gangs, its entire territory is controlled.
Work is also underway to clean up the settlement of Borovskoye.
One of the stronger points of the Ukrainian defense did not last long!
Keep it up! Russia, go ahead!
Did I promise good news? You get them!
@rkadyrov_95

Seems Severodonetsk area is about to be completely cleared

Kinda funny seeing Paul Craig Roberts cry about the Saker and other Russian propagandist casting him out earlier. You would think given his career that he should know he's simply a useful idiot among the Kremlin digest who will welcome him as long as he plays to the Kremlin tune but will be cast out as soon as he becomes a nuisance to the at-the-time narrative push. Same thing will happen with Ritter or any of the other clowns currently being propped up. Truth? Lmao....It's no fucking different than in the West. As long as you play by establishment rules and say what they wanna hear you're welcomed in. Specially "pro-bono" freebies, with a nice chuckle. Tolerance for a bit of roughness around the edges is allowed. But when the views come in consistently not in-line on topics of major importance to said establishment you stand out from the pack and thus that stops being the case and you're cast out. This is how it has always worked, always, and forever, everywhere. So they put out a hit job on him....       If PCR is looking for pity or brownie points from the sheeple that consume the content then he's more pitiful of an idiot than I thought. Sheeple ain't worried about the truth either. Sheeple, the dimmitt's of this world..... the masses... got a team... you can't fight human nature to be fiercely tribal. The dimwitts want the good news flowing daily (real, manufactured or in-between), and the negative that causes cognitive dissonance kept to an absolute minimum. It's what it's.  

Now I could entertain some pity if if he actually called out the propagandist for what they're, intellectually dishonest liars (and many grifting to boot)...but he's carefully choosing his words and defacto hiding the real truth... he knows damn well it's not a matter of truth... the Saker and the other clowns don't believe any of the shit they type...golly gee that some truth somehow aligns with the bullshit.... but since PCR is merely asking for permission to get back in... well..... You chose the company you keep. There is obviously more to it, self-prop to his reader base as bearer of "truth" against an unprovoked attack but you can at least give him that.... considering the competition is getting fierce for the growing reader's base of disaffected westerners. The smart ones always grift on the side.... donations, patreons, shops... come on in to the bazaar.

There is always the no mans land option.